Projects

Origin, Function and Evolution of fungal Accessory Chromosomes

Accessory chromosomes are entire eukaryotic linear chromosomes that are present in some but not all members of a population and are therefore non-essential. In fungi, these chromosomes are found in many important (plant) pathogens, can contain hundreds of expressed genes and often affect the host range or fitness of the fungus. Despite their importance in many fungal pathogens, little is known about their origin, inheritance and evolution. Accessory chromosomes may undergo non-canonical segregation during mitosis or meiosis, which may be influenced by their distinct histone modifications. In addition, in some fungi accessory chromosomes can be transferred horizontally within and between fungal species, affecting the fitness and host range of the receiving fungus. In the insect pathogen Metarhizium, we propose that horizontally transferred accessory chromosomes encode the machinery for horizontal transfer, making them conceptually similar to bacterial plasmids and highlighting their importance for horizontal gene transfer.

Here we use insect pathogens of the genus Metarhizium, which contain a large set of accessory chromosomes, some of which we have shown can be horizontally transferred between species, to understand the mechanism of horizontal transfer and its evolutionary consequences

The impact of fungi on the microbiome of animals

All organisms are associated with microorganisms (i.e. the microbiome) that can influence their physiological processes. The importance of the bacterial component of the microbiome is well established, but the the fungal members of the microbiome are less well understood. We are using the nematode Caenorhabditis elegans, which lives in decaying organic plant matter, as a model to understand the interaction of its associated fungi with the worm, but also with the bacterial members of the microbiome. In particular, we are interested in understanding the genetic components of both the associated fungi and the worm host that shape this interaction. On this topic we are collaborating with Dr. Carola Petersen and Prof. Dr. Hinrich Schulenburg at Kiel University https://evoecogen-kiel.de/.

Master/Bachelor theses

We are always looking for motivated students that are interesed in fungal genomics and functional genetics. Please contacte me (mhabig@bot.uni-kiel.de) if you are intested and we can start the discussion.